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[IMAGE (PHOTOGRAPH) Firefighter spraying a burned house; Snow plow] Basketball teams face tough opposition over the Winter break. Page 12 VOLUME 101, ISSUE 45 Western Courier www.westerncourier.com MONDAY SERVING THE STUDENTS OF WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY SINCE 1905 January 8, 2001 IN THIS ISSUE News pg. 1-8 Op-ed pg. 6-7 Sports . Pg. 10-12 WEATHER HIGH 25 LOW 16 5-day forecast pg. 2 Winter break blaze destroys fraternity house Fire victims relocated as fire officials continue to search for a cause By William Lee EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Macomb Fire Department officials are continuing to investigate the cause of a fire that gutted the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house over the semester break. Five WIU students escaped an early morning fire at the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house over WIU's winter break. According to a Macomb Fire Department official, city and state investigators are still examining the cause of the fire, but are unsure how long the entire process will take. Further complicating their attempts is the damage done by the fire and extreme cold have made the house unsafe, not allowing investigators to get a close look. Firefighters were called to the fraternity house at 830 N. Avery at 5:35 a.m. Dec. 18. They had to endure sub-zero wind chills and deep snow banks as they fought the blaze, which engulfed the entire house. All of the students who escaped the blaze avoided serious injury, with at least on student leaping from the house's second story. Steve J. Bechtold, 21, was transported to the McDonough District Hospital and was treated for minor cuts and frostbite and later released. The fire ravaged the home that housed 26 of WIU's 70 Delta Sigma Phi members, destroying all contents of the house. Most members of the fraternity had returned home for the holiday, but many left their belongings at the house. Returning members will be relocated to Olson Hall this semester, according to a WIU press release. Members will be charged directly from WIU rather than paying through their chapter. WILLIAM LEE/COURIER STAFF A Macomb firefighter sprays the burned remnants of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house at 830 N. Avery. A fire erupted at the house in the early morning of Dec. 18. Fire officials are still investigating the cause of the blaze. Five students escaped the fire, one with minor injuries. City works to clear snow and ice in time for students' return to WIU By Dennis Coyle NEWS EDITOR The Macomb community has been subjected to multiple outbursts of harsh winter weather this season. Luckily for WIU, the worst began shortly after the winter break commenced. The Macomb area received approximately 16 to 20 total inches of snowfall this winter and a majority of it fell near the end of the fall semester and the following week. Although the area has seen its share of inconvenient snowstorms, the snowfall only played a part in the recent bad weather. It was the ice that made functioning in the area so difficult. Macomb was hit with bad weather Dec. 15; however, unlike its predecessors, this storm dropped rain rather than snow. As a result, the Macomb area was quickly covered in a thin layer of ice. This mixture of snow and ice made work difficult for WIU ground crews who were charged with clearing the WIU campus. ""The snow wasn't the big issue � it was the ice that made it very difficult to remove,"" Pat Dowdall, Physical Plant construction project coordinator, said. ""When we came back ... it was just a glare. The whole campus was a sheet of ice."" The severity of the winter weather left the east side of Macomb and WIU powerless. Students and staff were further disrupted when WIU lost its power causing the cancellation of the full graduate school commencement ceremony. WIU did offer an informal graduate ceremony with the help of candles and flashlights. The WIU grounds crew has been continuously working to finish the snow removal process in order to get the campus ready for the return of students. ""We're just now finishing up with the ice and snow removal,"" Dowdall said. ""We're trying to get everything open for the residence halls and lots se we can get all the students back."" In an effort to clean up the campus' 22 miles of sidewalks and approximately 100 sets of steps and multiple acres of parking lots, the ground crew used a tremendous amount of salt, six large trucks with plows and salt spreaders, three large tractors and eight to 10 lawn tractors. Despite all the heavy machinery, the grounds crew's biggest relief was the recent warm weather. ""We cleared as much of it as we could,"" Dowdall said. ""The January thaw has really helped out."" Even after the warm weather, there are still areas SEE SNOW PAGE 4 Students return eager, despite shortened Winter break By Dennis Coyle NEWS EDITOR Fall semester is over, winter break is over and the spring semester has begun. As always, some students welcome the new semester with open arms as other resent the fact that break is over. For freshman undecided major Travis Watson, the semester break wasn't long enough. Watson, a swim team member, spent only 10 days back home in Alaska because of swim practice. ""When I did get home, it was nice to get away from here and see some friends,"" Watson, who moved in Saturday, said. However, senior law enforcement and justice administration major Ashley Armstrong was ready to come back to WIU. ""Actually, I was ready to come back,"" Armstrong, who lives in Lincoln Hall, said. ""I don't think I could have stood another week at home. My parents were driving me insane. I'm glad to be back."" Armstrong had a little incentive to come back to WIU. ""It is my last semester here, so I'm pretty excited to be back and kind of scared to graduate,"" Armstrong said. Although the move-in weekend went off without a hitch, things could have been different for WIU students. When students left for semester break harsh winter weather conditions hit the Macomb area. The bad weather continued over break and at times left WIU immobilized but a small window of warmer weather greeted students upon their return for the spring semester. Students and faculty realized if the bad weather had continued, moving back into the residence halls would have been more difficult. ""It would have made it more interesting,"" Watson, a Thompson Hall resident, said. ""Some people might not have even came back because of (bad weather), especially if they had to drive."" Armstrong also feels that bad weather would have created difficulties for students. ""It would have been pretty messy,"" Armstrong said. ""I don't think a lot of students would have gotten back. We got lucky with the warm weather."" Thompson Hall Residence Director Jessica Bunch said with the good weather, the student move-in as gone as planned. ""Everything is going really smoothly,"" Bunch said. ""The warmer temperatures have really helped us. � Hopefully students are ready to get back and get into the swing of things and start classes � I know we are,"" she added.

Archives and Special Collections. Western Illinois University Libraries

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Original Format: Newspaper

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17 in

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11.5 in

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Black, White, Color

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WIU Libraries Archives & Special Collections -- All Rights Reserved. For permission to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise use these images, contact the Western Illinois University Archives and Special Collections at malpass-archives@wiu.edu.

Archives and Special Collections. Western Illinois University Libraries

Rights

WIU Libraries Archives & Special Collections -- All Rights Reserved. For permission to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise use these images, contact the Western Illinois University Archives and Special Collections at malpass-archives@wiu.edu.

Language

eng

Transcript

[IMAGE (PHOTOGRAPH) Firefighter spraying a burned house; Snow plow] Basketball teams face tough opposition over the Winter break. Page 12 VOLUME 101, ISSUE 45 Western Courier www.westerncourier.com MONDAY SERVING THE STUDENTS OF WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY SINCE 1905 January 8, 2001 IN THIS ISSUE News pg. 1-8 Op-ed pg. 6-7 Sports . Pg. 10-12 WEATHER HIGH 25 LOW 16 5-day forecast pg. 2 Winter break blaze destroys fraternity house Fire victims relocated as fire officials continue to search for a cause By William Lee EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Macomb Fire Department officials are continuing to investigate the cause of a fire that gutted the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house over the semester break. Five WIU students escaped an early morning fire at the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house over WIU's winter break. According to a Macomb Fire Department official, city and state investigators are still examining the cause of the fire, but are unsure how long the entire process will take. Further complicating their attempts is the damage done by the fire and extreme cold have made the house unsafe, not allowing investigators to get a close look. Firefighters were called to the fraternity house at 830 N. Avery at 5:35 a.m. Dec. 18. They had to endure sub-zero wind chills and deep snow banks as they fought the blaze, which engulfed the entire house. All of the students who escaped the blaze avoided serious injury, with at least on student leaping from the house's second story. Steve J. Bechtold, 21, was transported to the McDonough District Hospital and was treated for minor cuts and frostbite and later released. The fire ravaged the home that housed 26 of WIU's 70 Delta Sigma Phi members, destroying all contents of the house. Most members of the fraternity had returned home for the holiday, but many left their belongings at the house. Returning members will be relocated to Olson Hall this semester, according to a WIU press release. Members will be charged directly from WIU rather than paying through their chapter. WILLIAM LEE/COURIER STAFF A Macomb firefighter sprays the burned remnants of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity house at 830 N. Avery. A fire erupted at the house in the early morning of Dec. 18. Fire officials are still investigating the cause of the blaze. Five students escaped the fire, one with minor injuries. City works to clear snow and ice in time for students' return to WIU By Dennis Coyle NEWS EDITOR The Macomb community has been subjected to multiple outbursts of harsh winter weather this season. Luckily for WIU, the worst began shortly after the winter break commenced. The Macomb area received approximately 16 to 20 total inches of snowfall this winter and a majority of it fell near the end of the fall semester and the following week. Although the area has seen its share of inconvenient snowstorms, the snowfall only played a part in the recent bad weather. It was the ice that made functioning in the area so difficult. Macomb was hit with bad weather Dec. 15; however, unlike its predecessors, this storm dropped rain rather than snow. As a result, the Macomb area was quickly covered in a thin layer of ice. This mixture of snow and ice made work difficult for WIU ground crews who were charged with clearing the WIU campus. ""The snow wasn't the big issue � it was the ice that made it very difficult to remove,"" Pat Dowdall, Physical Plant construction project coordinator, said. ""When we came back ... it was just a glare. The whole campus was a sheet of ice."" The severity of the winter weather left the east side of Macomb and WIU powerless. Students and staff were further disrupted when WIU lost its power causing the cancellation of the full graduate school commencement ceremony. WIU did offer an informal graduate ceremony with the help of candles and flashlights. The WIU grounds crew has been continuously working to finish the snow removal process in order to get the campus ready for the return of students. ""We're just now finishing up with the ice and snow removal,"" Dowdall said. ""We're trying to get everything open for the residence halls and lots se we can get all the students back."" In an effort to clean up the campus' 22 miles of sidewalks and approximately 100 sets of steps and multiple acres of parking lots, the ground crew used a tremendous amount of salt, six large trucks with plows and salt spreaders, three large tractors and eight to 10 lawn tractors. Despite all the heavy machinery, the grounds crew's biggest relief was the recent warm weather. ""We cleared as much of it as we could,"" Dowdall said. ""The January thaw has really helped out."" Even after the warm weather, there are still areas SEE SNOW PAGE 4 Students return eager, despite shortened Winter break By Dennis Coyle NEWS EDITOR Fall semester is over, winter break is over and the spring semester has begun. As always, some students welcome the new semester with open arms as other resent the fact that break is over. For freshman undecided major Travis Watson, the semester break wasn't long enough. Watson, a swim team member, spent only 10 days back home in Alaska because of swim practice. ""When I did get home, it was nice to get away from here and see some friends,"" Watson, who moved in Saturday, said. However, senior law enforcement and justice administration major Ashley Armstrong was ready to come back to WIU. ""Actually, I was ready to come back,"" Armstrong, who lives in Lincoln Hall, said. ""I don't think I could have stood another week at home. My parents were driving me insane. I'm glad to be back."" Armstrong had a little incentive to come back to WIU. ""It is my last semester here, so I'm pretty excited to be back and kind of scared to graduate,"" Armstrong said. Although the move-in weekend went off without a hitch, things could have been different for WIU students. When students left for semester break harsh winter weather conditions hit the Macomb area. The bad weather continued over break and at times left WIU immobilized but a small window of warmer weather greeted students upon their return for the spring semester. Students and faculty realized if the bad weather had continued, moving back into the residence halls would have been more difficult. ""It would have made it more interesting,"" Watson, a Thompson Hall resident, said. ""Some people might not have even came back because of (bad weather), especially if they had to drive."" Armstrong also feels that bad weather would have created difficulties for students. ""It would have been pretty messy,"" Armstrong said. ""I don't think a lot of students would have gotten back. We got lucky with the warm weather."" Thompson Hall Residence Director Jessica Bunch said with the good weather, the student move-in as gone as planned. ""Everything is going really smoothly,"" Bunch said. ""The warmer temperatures have really helped us. � Hopefully students are ready to get back and get into the swing of things and start classes � I know we are,"" she added.